The Bakersfield 3 Were Brought Together by Unthinkable Tragedies — Here's What We Know
There was no one to help the Bakersfield 3, so they took matters into their own hands.
Published April 9 2025, 10:11 a.m. ET
Unfortunately, the women known as the Bakersfield 3 became the Bakersfield 2 after one of them passed away in April 2024. According to her obituary, Diane "Di" Sheree Byrne was surrounded by family, friends, and loved ones as she took her last breath in her home in Bakersfield, Calif. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and loyal friend whose love of fashion was surpassed only by her commitment as a mother.
The Bakersfield 3 was formed in April 2018 after Byrne was told her son, James Kulstad, was shot and killed. When Byrne learned that her son's death might be connected to the death of another local man, as well as a missing young woman, she reached out to their mothers and formed this powerful trio. Since Byrne's passing, the two remaining women, Jane Parrent and Cheryl Holsonbake, continue to fight the good fight. Here's what we know about the Bakersfield 3.
The Bakersfield 3 was born from the desire to get answers.
The story of these three women is riddled with tragedy, confusion, and some complications. To understand them, we must meet their children. Kulstad was an accomplished skateboarder who also held a patent for a skateboard part. Back in 2007, he was living in San Diego when he was hit by a car, per Marie Claire. His injuries led him to pain medication, which eventually resulted in a heroin addiction. He and his children eventually moved back home and in with Byrne.
The night Kulstad died, he went to an acquaintance's house because this individual owed him money. Kulstad's brother had already been hanging out there but left to run an errand. Upon his return, the sibling saw Kulstad pulling out of the driveway, which is when he was shot by someone in another vehicle. Kulstad died in his brother's arms. The case is unsolved.
Like Kulstad, Micah Holsonbake also went down the dark road of addiction after he had surgery on a benign growth on his throat. Cheryl Holsonbake's son disappeared in April 2018, and while she was searching for him, the name James Kulstad came up. This is also around the time Jane Parrent saw Holsonbake's missing persons flier and texted her. Her daughter, Baylee Despot, had been arrested outside of Holsonbake's home in 2017 for being drunk and disorderly. Despot disappeared in April 2018.
Since they were brought together by these unthinkable crimes, the Bakersfield 3 formed a nonprofit charity in 2013 called the Bakersfield 3 Charity. The nonprofit organization raises money and awareness for "countywide crime-solving efforts," per Marie Claire. The three women also founded the Kern Secret Witness Program, which pays tipsters for information that helps solve crimes. In terms of their own kids, the Bakersfield 3 is relentless about communicating with law enforcement.
Were the children of the Bakersfield 3 connected?
One individual whom Holsonbake and Despot had in common was a man named Matthew Queen. Before he disappeared, Holsonbake was assembling guns and selling them illegally. He was working with Queen, the man Despot was reportedly living with. Four months after Byrne first reached out to Cheryl and Parrent, a severed arm was found in the Kern River. It belonged to Holsonbake.
In May 2020, Despot was charged, in absentia, with Holsonbake's murder. Queen was also charged and, at his trial, claimed that Despot actually killed Holsonbake but the two dismembered him and got rid of the body, per KGET. He was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, plus 56 years. Despot is still missing. Kulstad's murderer remains at large.